New Book: From Billy Graham to Sarah Palin: Evangelicals and the Betrayal of American Conservatism

Amazon.com ^ | January 26, 2012 | D.G. Hart

[Deb]

Geez, that’s the most convoluted and ridiculous premise for a book I’ve ever read. Since Republicans can’t win ANYTHING without evangelicals and evangelicals can’t win ANYTHING without garden variety conservatives and moderates, they are all going to have to work it out together and stop shooting at each other.

[L,TOWM]

What alternative to school vouchers do you propose?
Homeschooling, like my household is doing, without asking others to subsidize it.

How much do you think the military should be reduced?
A professional Navy and Airforce, both about one half of the size we have now. One Division of US Marines. A few Brigades of regular army to provide training cadre for a LARGE national militia. Something like the Swiss have, in proporation to our population. Hell, I'd be happy if just got rid of our air and sealift capacity and got out of the foreign entsanglement business. You know, sort of what we had for 150 years in this country, before WW2 came along and we went into perpetual warfare mode with no end in sight.

How would you alter the prison system?
Persoanlly I would make it harsher.

What do textbooks have to do with anything?
Seems to have all the Baptists here in Texas riled up on a regular basis and I ask them much them same thing -- "why give a squat about the govvie schools are peddling if you homeschool?" Usually met with an uncomfortable silence.

[Responsibility2nd]

You really pull stuff out of nowhere, don’t you?

You do realize you contradict yourself when you argue that SoCons are for vouchers AND school textbooks?

Anyway, I’m seeing the other replies (to you/from you) on this thread and now see what type of liberal you are.

Later.

[L,TOWM]

Dobson and many others on that list liked the Faith based initiative idea, so that was an oversight on my part.

This was one of W’s crown jewels. If you did not like it and I know I did not like it, than we are excluded from the group of people that the author is talking about.

I suspect that we are having a definition problem here. I am a Christian first and conservative second. I know my Word well enough to have formed the belief that any of man’s efforts to create a better world for all are doomed to fail. Therefore, the greatest gift I ask from my government is leave me alone. And stop asking me for more expensive ways to care for my parents.

[L,TOWM]

I have. The church I go to now spends a lot of time trying to bring the Spirit back into churches that are little more than tax exempt social clubs.

[L,TOWM]

Most of the evangelicals you see involved in politics have no objection to a huge government, as long at is doing what they want it to do.

I’m seeing the other replies (to you/from you) on this thread and now see what type of liberal you are.

Hopefully, the John Stuart Mills variety. If you are going the ad hominem route at least try to get it in the same galaxy, sir.

[x]

He has a point. But he takes it too far. I guess that's how you sell books.

Hart has a "Burkean" traditionalist idea that really doesn't fit very well into the actual political scene. Some "Burkeans" have little to do with conservative politics and many conservatives have little to do with "Burkeanism."

Would it be a better world if there were a better fit between political and intellectual conservatism? It would be so different a world, that imagining it is more of an intellectual exercise than something of practical usefulness.

Exclude the evangelicals for not being conservative enough and then you have to worry about excluding or including other groups that are also less than 99 44/100ths% pure ideologically.

The fact that religion doesn't simply translate into political ideologies is a good thing. Religion considers things that simplistic ideologies don't take into account.

[ansel12]

Evangelicals are the most conservative voters in America, they are the true right wingers, an actual unshakable right wing voting block, to the tune of 75 and 80%, so I don’t know what the complaint is.

[rmlew]

School vouchers.
And this is a step towards liberty. Since in the real world, there will not be a seperation of school and state, why not let parents choose to use their allocated grants and tax money to =send thier children to the schools of their CHOICE?

A really, really big military.
We have 2 million people in the military in a country of 315 million. It isn't big.

Humane prisons.
You would prefer what?

The “war on drugs”.
Enslaved people do not vote for liberty.

Foreign aid. (after all, we can’t let the Islamics have all the fun!)
Huh? We give a lot to the Muslim world.

K-12 school textbooks.
Run by the left for the left.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks C19fan.